The present invention relates to an improved means for attaching replaceable stone and/or guide assemblies to master holders and, more particularly, to novel attaching means wherein each stone and/or guide assembly includes spaced tubular projections formed on one surface thereof at locations to register with and to be insertable into corresponding openings extending through the associated master holder, said tubular projections being made of a malleable or ductile material and each including an opening extending therethrough having at least a portion thereof irregularly shaped. A simple novel swaging tool is utilized to permanently plastically upset and expand the malleable or ductile material associated with the irregularly shaped portion of the tubular projections so as to force said material outwardly into the corresponding openings in the master holder to which it is being attached. The camming action produced by rotation of the swaging tool cams the respective surfaces of the tubular projections and the openings through the master holder against each other thereby providing a positive driving connection therebetween. Simple removal means for detaching the disposable stone and/or guide assemblies from their respective master holders are also disclosed.
Honing mandrels and other similar devices having stone and guide assemblies mounted thereon are well known and have been used for many years. A wide variety of mandrels and like devices have been designed and manufactured so as to be adjustable to maintain the stone and/or guide assemblies in contact under pressure with the work surfaces being honed. Typical of such mandrel constructions are those devices which utilize single radially adjustable stone assemblies, while other such devices utilize a plurality of circumferentially spaced stone and/or guide assemblies, one or more of which are radially adjustable during a particular honing operation to maintain the stone and/or guide assemblies in contact under pressure with a work surface being honed. Many known stone and guide assemblies and stone and guide assembly movement means have been devised and used in the past including those disclosed in Sunnen U.S. Pat. Nos. Re. 18,763; 1,902,194; 1,904,336; 1,946,041; 1,982,836; 2,040,281; 2,815,615; 3,378,962; co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 314,856, filed Oct. 26, 1981 and co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 415,488, filed Sept. 7, 1982, both of which are assigned to Applicants' assignee, Sunnen Products Company. Some of the known constructions have the stone and guide members fixedly mounted on holder members which are then mounted on a honing mandrel or head, or other similar device, in various ways. With such known constructions, as the stones and guides wear out, the stone and/or guide assemblies, which usually include the mounting means therefor, are either discarded or the old stones and guides are removed therefrom and new members attached thereto. These procedures are wasteful and expensive to the user especially in those cases where the stone and guide assemblies include expensive metal backing and support means.
Although the attachment means disclosed in co-pending Sunnen U.S. patent application Ser. No. 314,856, filed Oct. 26, 1981, seeks to overcome such waste and expense by teaching the construction and attachment of a novel replaceable honing stone assembly, certain disadvantages and shortcomings still exist. For example, Sunnen U.S. patent application Ser. No. 314,856 discloses a work engaging stone assembly for mounting on a honing mandrel or like device comprising a replaceable stone assembly and a reusable master stone holder, the stone assembly including spaced tubular projections formed on one surface thereof at locations to register with and to be insertable into respective spaced openings formed in the master stone holder. Threaded fastener members or a special threaded tool are utilized for threading into each respective tubular projection when said projections are positioned extending into the spaced openings formed in the master stone holder. When so threaded, the fastener members or the threaded tool form threads into the tubular projections of the stone assembly and simultaneously expand said tubular projections outwardly into the respective openings in the master stone holder to make a firm tight connection therewith. The various methods disclosed in the above-identified pending case for attaching a replaceable stone assembly to a master stone holder typically require the threaded members and/or the threaded tool to be rotated through numerous revolutions in order to sufficiently thread said members through the tubular projections of the stone assembly so as to adequately permanently plastically flare outwardly the soft material associated therewith against the walls of the master stone holder. In addition, it has been found that rotation of the threaded fastener members and/or the special threaded tool is still somewhat time consuming due to the fact that these members must be rotated through numerous revolutions. This operation, although a great improvement, still requires some manual dexterity and physical strength in manipulating the associated threaded members and/or the inserting tool for achieving both proper attachment and removal of the stone assembly to and from its corresponding master holder. This is not true of the present construction as will be hereinafter explained.
The present construction overcomes these and other disadvantages and shortcomings of the known constructions by teaching novel means for drivingly attaching a replaceable stone and/or guide assembly to a master holder without the use of threaded fastener members to accomplish the same and without requiring threaded members to be left on the assemblies. Instead, the replaceable stone and/or guide assemblies of the present invention each include at least one and usually two or more spaced tubular projections formed on one surface thereof at locations to register with and to be insertable into corresponding openings extending through the master holders, said tubular projections each including an opening extending therethrough having at least a portion of its length of an irregular or non-round cross-sectional shape defined by sidewall portions of varying contour extending therearound. The replaceable stone and/or guide assemblies of the present invention are attached to master holders by using a simple novel swaging tool which includes a camming surface at one end portion thereof adaptable for engaging the openings in the projections and, when rotated, to permanently upset and plastically expand the malleable or ductile material associated with the irregular shaped portions of the tubular projection openings so as to force said material outwardly or sideways into engagement with the respective openings in the master holder for achieving a tight firm connection therewith. Simple rotation of the swaging tool through approximately 180.degree. of rotation cams and permanently deforms the relative surfaces of the tubular projections and the openings througn the master holder against each other, and such manner of attachment does not require the use of any threaded members or the like as previously disclosed in the above-identified pending case. Additionally, since the camming surface of the swaging tool is only squeezing and reshaping the malleable or ductile metal associated with the tubular projections of the replaceable stone and/or guide assemblies and such tool is not physically forming threads as previously required in using the special tool described in the above-identified pending case, rotation of the swaging tool of the present invention is considerably easier and less time consuming and can be conveniently and easily accomplished by users possessing ordinary manual skills and by persons having little training or ability. The present method therefore can be quickly and easily accomplished while at the same time providing a positive driving connection under pressure between the replaceable stone and/or guide assemblies and their master holders.
When the stones of the present device wear and need replacing, the replaceable stone and/or guide assemblies can be quickly separated from their respective master holders and can be replaced by another similar stone and/or guide assembly. This results in minimal waste to the customer and, because of the inexpensive cost of the replaceable stone and/or guide assemblies, makes it uneconomical to remount stones and/or guides on existing backing members which is time consuming, expensive and requires special equipment and materials. Also, since the backing material to which the stones and/or guides are attached is relatively inexpensive and is normally damaged by use, there is little to be lost by discarding it rather than trying to reuse it by removing the worn stones or shoes and replacing them with new ones.
It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide improved means for attaching members together.
Another object is to provide a relatively inexpensive replaceable stone and/or guide assembly for mounting on master holders, which assemblies are drivingly connected to their respective master holders without requiring or using threaded members.
Another object is to provide novel means for attaching a disposable stone assembly to a master stone holder.
Another object is to provide novel means for attaching a replaceable guide assembly to a master guide holder.
Another object is to reduce the time and effort required to install a honing stone and/or guide assembly on a holder device in order to restore a honing device to a like-new operating condition.
Another object is to make it possible to attach a replaceable stone and/or guide assembly to a master holder using a simple novel swaging tool.
Another object is to teach the construction of a simple novel swaging tool for use in attaching replaceable stone and/or guide assemblies to master holders, said swaging tool being easily and quickly inserted and rotated within openings extending through the tubular projections formed within the stone and/or guide assemblies to effect a positive driving connection between the stone and/or guide assemblies and their respective master holders.
Another object is to make it possible to attach a replaceable stone and/or guide assembly to a master holder by a one time rotation of a swaging tool through a predetermined angle usually about 180.degree..
Another object is to prevent mounting a stone and/or guide assembly in a wrong position on a master holder.
Another object is to provide novel means for attaching and detaching replaceable stone and/or guide assemblies to and from reusable master holders without requiring that the entire honing assembly be removed from the mandrel or honing head on which it is mounted.
Another object is to reduce the expense of maintaining a honing mandrel in an operative condition.
Another object is to provide novel means for removing the disposable stone and/or guide assemblies from their respective master holders.
Another object is to make it uneconomical to remount stones and/or guides on existing holder devices.
Another object is to provide a novel attaching means which may be utilized in other applications.